The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has hinted that despite the number of working poor continues to decline globally, 375 million workers (or 11.9 per cent of total employment) are esti­mated to live on less than US$1.25 per day in 2013.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The International Labour Organisation has identified a rapid growth of ‘the developing middle class’ – a group earning between $4 and $13 a day

When a million people swarmed on to the streets of Brazil last June there was consensus that the protest was a phenomenon of the “new middle class” – squeezed by corruption and failing infrastructure. As the Thai protests continue, these too are labelled middle class: office workers staging flashmobs in their neat, pressed shirts.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The report indicated that around 30% of working males in Egypt are overeducated for the current position they hold while around 10% are undereducated.(DNE File Photo)

With the government having pledged high rates of foreign direct investment (FDI) over the coming period, the latest report issued by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) points out that FDI’s ability to affect unemployment rates is largely dependent on the sector to which it is directed.

Basing its research in 2011, the report noted that “in Egypt, 45% of total FDI inflows were directed to the petroleum sector. Not only are these sectors capital-intensive, they also offer job opportunities for a very limited number of occupations.”

The 2014 Global Employment Trends (GET) report added that petroleum engineers represent a large part of Egypt’s labour demand, employees for which many MENA countries cannot domestically provide, and thus are positions largely fulfilled by foreign workers.

Leaders of the Uttaranchal Roadways Employees’ Union Chandigarh: Roadways employees union in Haryana today split over the issue of strike with some sections calling off the stir after government accepted "most of their demands" even as some two lakh workers of different departments, boards and corporations struck work.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

VADODARA: A majority of railwaymen are in favour of a strike to press for their long-standing demands. This was stated by officials of National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR), who had conducted a strike ballot for two days to knowthe views of the railway employees, on Saturday.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

The case of Indian cement workers in the facilities of Swiss based multinational giant Holcim in Chhattisgarh has come to represent the worst trend of worker exploitation in the global supply chain. Permanent employees were shifted to contract status, paid poverty wages in a deadly environment and stripped of union rights. Now, on 8 January the leaders of the contract worker trade union PCSS, otherwise ignored by Holcim, were imprisoned on sham charges pressed by former company security officers.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and IndustriAll European Trade Union welcome the adoption by the European Parliament of the report Reindustrialising Europe to Promote Competitiveness and Sustainability.

"This report underlines the importance of a strong industry to support lasting and quality jobs in Europe," said Jozef Niemiec, ETUC Deputy General Secretary. "Encouraging the reindustrialisation of Europe through the mobilisation of adequate financial means and through support for innovation is essential for Europe to get out of the crisis".

According to the International LabourOrganisation (ILO), Africa’s working-age population is estimated to have reached over 490 million in 2012, representing a quantum leap of 259% since 2000 at an annual compound growth rate of 2.8%. Therefore, employment of the continent’s teeming labour population is key to economic development within the region and indeed, globally.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the ITUC Asia-Pacific and IndustriALL-SE Asia Office (the global union federation branch representing garment workers in this region) have today completed an urgent four-day mission to Cambodia to respond to the workers’ rights crisis in the country. As with workers, governments and employers from around the world, we were horrified by the serious human rights violations that were committed here in recent weeks, including the use of deadly force by security forces to quell the protests in the industrial zones.